Mill has his day - at Fairyhouse

The Follow Fairyhouse On Twitter Maiden Hurdle was a weakly contested event but that'll matter little to the connections of Theatre Mill and those that backed the five-year-old King's Theatre gelding from 9/2 into 7/2.

Mikey Fogarty made all on Paul Nolan's charge and he had the favourite, Bishopslough on the stretch from three out.

Two quick jumps at the couple of hurdles in the straight, sealed the issue in favour of Theatre Mill and he crossed the line two and three parts of a length to the good from the aforementioned market-leader.

Nolan's brother James explained: "He's always worked well, even before he ever ran. His mother is a half-sister to Cloone River and that's how we ended up with him.

"We loved him at the start but he's always been very free and hard to handle. He ran well at Limerick last Christmas considering the ground.

"He wants nice ground, though probably not as quick as that. He has been disappointing – but this race cut up and it looked moderate enough after the favourite (Apache Stronghold, owing to the ground) came out.

"We have no real plan for him – we're just delighted to win with him as we told the owner from day one that we liked him.

"This is the first day that he's really settled and relaxed. He'll handle softer ground but he wouldn't handle winter ground." (GC & EM)